Hey!  I went to a little pond that my dad used to fish at when he was a kid.  He said he caught bass and catfish but today I saw something that looked a lot like a musky.  Its the only thing I think it could be.  I threw pretty much everything in my tackle box at it that I use for bass and he looked interested but didn't hit it.  He is only about a foot long so I don't think he is a very big musky so what do you think I could use to catch him?  And if I saw one there must be more right?

Might have been a pickerel. A one foot long musky or even pike is just a baby. If what you saw was a musky or northern it was a juvenile and if so it is either an introduced fish or Momma and Poppa are somewhere nearby! Both musky and northern are ambush feeders and are usually best caught working parallel to weed edges. When fishing a weed edge you know you are in the right place when your lure or bait comes back with a few weeds. You have to be close but not in the weeds. Tom

Where are you from, I'm curious about the musky/pike/pickerel you saw.

I'm in northeast Pa. The pond is really really small and I was surprised to see this fish. I really don't know for sure what it was but it wasnt a bass trout or anything I recognized. What lures should I try to use I used spin baits, lipsless cranks, regular cranks, a curly tail worm with a jig and like i said he followed the worm but wouldn't hit anything. It was soooo frustrating.

There are pike stocked in my neighborhood pond which is maybe 3 acres tops. Pike and musky will bite on a variety of lures as well as live and dead bait. I have caught many on fathead minnows as well as hairpin and inline spinners, swim baits and crankbaits. Sometimes a pause/twitch retrieve will trigger a strike. If it is a member of the esox (pike) family, watch out for the teeth! Tom

If you need help IDing pike, check the pic on the home page. A musky looks similar but with vertical bars instead of the spots. Tom

It definitely had spots. So it has to be a pike then. This is the first time I've seen one. I am gonna try every day to catch that thing.

Do I need a leader on since it has teeth or no?

The bars on smaller musky are spotty and are very noticeable. The spots are darker and the skin is lighter. Where as a pikes spots are lighter compared to their skin color.  And yes, they have lots of teeth and will cut your line. A leader is preferred. I attached this photo of a small musky I found on the internet to show the spots. Would this be similar to what you saw?  

Yes that looks almost exactly like it.

On a northern the pattern would be reversed, dark background and light spots. A leader is recommended but an alternative would be to double up two lengths of braid so that if one gets cut or bit through the other will hopefully survive. If you choose to go with a leader, don't cheap out. The expensive titanium leaders won't kink like the cheaper leaders. Something else to remember- pike have sharp gill covers and will roll and cut your line there also. Tom

If I do catch this thing I can't just reach in and take the hook out either can I?

Posted By traseley on 07 Apr 2011 08:05 PM
If I do catch this thing I can't just reach in and take the hook out either can I?

You probably could.....once, but you'll probably never try it again without some kind of hook extractor!

If you decide to try, let us know how many stitches! Tom